Tag Archives: Shame

Apologies for the late posting of this episode which I believe we recorded up to two weeks ago. If you ever read film blogs, what am I talking about aren’t you on one now if you’re seeing this, you would’ve seen the very popular internet meme of angry Hitler coming to realize that he’s screwed due to some ridiculous thing. Well this is the movie it’s from we decide to discuss Downfall, check out the notes below:

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It’s another Tuesday, so let’s stop pretending you care what’s happening in the world and just check out this week’s DVD releases…. junkies….

Buy It:

Shame

Directed by: Steve McQueen

Written by: Abi Morgan & Steve McQueen

Starring: Michael Fassbender & Carey Mulligan

Why should you buy it? Sometimes you can never know a person until you enter their inner circle of trust, and times you may be frightened by what you find. When we see that charming guy at the bar, or at his desk at work able to always get the female’s attention and compliance we always secretly wish we had his “swagger” (for want of a better word), but those things come with a cost and while I don’t claim this to be the true cost of that ability it is definitely a possible balance on the cheque of life that this character is cashing. Fassbender and Mulligan are two of the best actors working today and they prove brilliant in their roles as brother and sister digging up deep dark truths about one another in the short time we spend with them.

Why should you rent it? Because while I remain a massive fan of the Mission Impossible franchise I do see this as a lesser film. I don’t pretend to think of the franchise as the deepest plot driven film series, but somehow the latest installment felt like an all too familiar blockbuster formula where if you keep the action scenes coming quickly enough then you won’t give me enough time to realize how boring or non-sensical the story is. Which in truth I don’t have that much of a problem with sometimes, but I took issue with it in this case.

There are a lot of action sequences worthy of adoration in this movie, I just don’t think (now no longer to be enjoyed in it’s full IMAX glory) that the love will dwindle as time goes by. I may be tempted to buy it though, to complete my MI collection.

Why should you skip it? Because, while I enjoy a lot of the interconnected New Orleans storylines, I feel like this is a show destined to go nowhere. I remember reading that HBO had agreed to grant a third season to David Simon (creator of The Wire) on good faith, even with the show’s dwindling ratings, but I just don’t believe it’ll end up paying off in a way that will satisfy anyone who’s looking down the barrel of catching up on two whole seasons at this point.

I do still enjoy a lot of the musical excerpts of the show and I do enjoy being able to enjoy my time with the characters of the show that I love (like Baptiste and Davis McAlary), but it’s not enough at this point I feel. I also hate Jon Seda (a new character to season 2) with a passion in this show.

The Rest

Eight is Enought: The Complete First SeasonHigh Road to ChinaThe DivideThe Legend of the Legendary Heroes: Part OneThe Legend of the Legendary Heroes: Part TwoBob’s Burgers: Season 1Starman: Complete Series7 BelowAmerican Translation

Blu Ray

Late Spring (Criterion Collection)Alambrista! (Criterion Collection)

What’re You Getting?

“I’m trying, I’m trying to help you.”

Something that we all love to see in films is growth. We like to see that our protagonist at the end of this journey, no matter how big or miniscule in scope, has shown some form of growth from when we first met him. So what happens when that growth is undercut by an underplayed moment in the film?

What is sex addiction? Sex is a primal aspect of life that is sought after and stigmatized in western society that it’s almost easy to say that anyone in this world with any kind of notable sexual appetite could be dubbed a “sex addict”. To look at Brandon and say he’s not addicted to sex though would be as if I we were to call Ben Sanderson in Leaving Las Vegas a social drinker.

The joy of this film doesn’t come from the sexuality of it – if you’re looking for that I’d point you towards the internet, it’s not hard to find – but rather the drama of Brandon and Sissy, taking all the little bits and pieces that are hinted at and shown in glimpses but never said and try to figure out what in their lives made them into their own broken versions of themselves and why Brandon has this closed off attitude towards his sister.

Everyone has a story and as long as the filmmaker can make the mystery of what these people’s story is then he can make a film worth watching. That is exactly what Steve McQueen did and he did it perfectly. The greatest example of which is shown in the film’s opening scene where we see an intercut story of Brandon’s (Michael Fassbender) morning and the previous evening involving him waking up in bed alone and going to work on the train where he has an alluring encounter with a woman across from him where a look is all that’s needed to convey everything between these two people who never speak to one another. The edit brings us bits and pieces of Brandon’s life while at the same time giving us insight into how more than likely this staring competition may just end up. Scenes like this give a wonderful example of how the smallest things can have the biggest impact by the method they are presented to the viewer.

As the film progresses we have the introduction of Sissy (Carey Mulligan), Brandon’s sister. The relationship between the two is rocky at best, for whatever reasons it’s almost unexplored exactly. The film alludes through minor dialogue moments where Sissy says “We’re not bad people. We just came from a bad place.” but never really saying out loud as to what their parents did to them to make them this way.

When we look at our main characters of Sissy and Brandon we’re presented with two people who are constantly needed to lean on something to keep them going. Brandon needs his sexual release and Sissy needs the attention and support of her brother. Sissy is constantly looking for her brother’s approval and to be a bigger part of his life, which all starts with her trying at every opportunity to cement herself in her brother’s life, but Brandon doesn’t make it easy.

The core question I feel that this film asks its viewers is if addiction is really a bad thing? Or to be more on the nose about it; where does need end and addiction start? We’re even treated to a whole speech from Brandon about how Sissy is a burden on him and how he’s so much better off because he’s independent with a home and a stable job but as is evident from what we’ve seen throughout the film that those things don’t exactly mean that you’ve got life all figured out.

In most films where we observe people who are compulsively always heading back to a certain need – drugs or alcohol – we see it completely consume them. In Shame Brandon is consumed and ruled by his impulses, but at the same time we never really see it bubble over in a way that ruins his life in the truest sense of the word. It definitely causes him to have problems creating genuine connections with people and comes from a place that hinders his relationship with even his sister, but if you were a coworker of his you probably wouldn’t ever notice him to be a man with a problem. Or maybe this is case of us being privy to the story before the problem becomes too big for him to handle.

Rating: 10/10

It’s Easter weekend and I can’t tell you how happy I am to have a relaxing “screw the world” weekend to myself where I get a chance to catch up on all the TV I’ve been putting off watching for months now. I actually had full intentions of finally watching The Last Temptation of Christ, but I’ve yet to strike up the nerve to press play on a 3 hour long film as opposed to watching episode after episode of a 30 minute anime or a 3 episode British TV series which rocked my world – I know this doesn’t make sense but work with me here.

FIRST TIME VIEWINGS

LOUIS C.K.: LIVE AT THE BEACON THEATRE (2011) – It’s more awesome Louis.ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA (2012) – Where awesome cinematography meets boring and meandering storytelling.SHAME (2011) – Brilliant film from top to bottom.BLACK MIRROR (2011) (TV) – Amazing science-fiction TV series where it takes the time to talk about certain aspects of technology and how it affects society.FATE/ZERO (Season 1) – Too much chatter and not enough action for an anime series that isn’t animated that interestingly.

REWATCHED

BLIND DATE (1987) – “You mean we have to have sex? All right, but no kissing!”12 ANGRY MEN (1957) – “It’s always difficult to keep personal prejudice out of a thing like this. And wherever you run into it, prejudice always obscures the truth.”

Thanks for listening and feel free to let us know what you think either through the comments below or email us here. You can subscribe to the podcast via our RSS, The Podcast Alley or iTunes. It would be awesome if you would rate/review us on iTunes (we’ll read your reviews on the show)